Water companies ‘take money from customers to pay their investors’

Thames Water, despite making a profit, relies on Government for developmentTimes photographer Paul Rogers

David Cameron will be confronted today over claims that “profiteering” water companies are doling out huge windfalls to their shareholders at the expense of consumers.

A withering assessment of the behaviour of many of Britain’s water suppliers has claimed that they have become heavily indebted, stopping them from carrying out much-needed infrastructure improvements or holding down the bills of their customers.

The report, by the CentreForum think-tank, and backed by a former regulator of the water industry, stated that, in some instances, the amount returned to investors over a four-year period could have saved consumers £139 a year on their water bills. “This could have been used to lower bills or invest in the network. Instead, it went straight from the pockets of customers to…